27 pages • 54 minutes read
Ovo AdaghaThe Plantation
Ovo AdaghaFiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Socio-Historical Context: The Discovery of Oil in Nigeria
From the late 1950s to the present day, numerous oil reserves have been discovered in Nigeria. Today, Nigeria is among the most oil-rich countries in Africa. But, as “The Plantation” makes clear, many Nigerians view these discoveries with ambivalence, as affluence still eludes much of the population. When Namidi first notices “a puddle of fluid gathered around him,” he remembers that “men from the city in khaki uniforms had come to the village with long pipes and heavy trucks” (77). Years later, though the pipeline carries vast wealth beneath his farm, Namidi still cannot afford to send his son to the missionary school.
Indeed, the village seems to lack any wealth derived from petroleum or the pipeline that runs under their lands. Namidi describes the village as “a cluster of thatched roofs, no more than a clearing in the jungle” (78). These huts, “stretched on a paltry piece of land with miniscule space between them” (78), are signs that little has changed for the villagers. In the end, an explosion destroys much of the village and many of its inhabitants. The 1998 Jesse explosion resulted in the deaths of more than 1,000 people.
Literary Context: Postcolonial Literature
In 1960, Nigeria achieved independence from Great Britain. In the decades after independence, Nigeria experienced civil wars and unrest along with the persistence of corruption. This history of colonial rule and postcolonial strife offers an opportunity to see Adagha’s story through a postcolonial lens.
Literature by colonizing societies often presents colonized societies as inferior and distorts the experiences and realities of colonized groups. As more and more countries gained independence in the 20th century, formerly-colonized people often developed literature that tried to redefine their identities and experiences against colonial prejudice. Adagha’s story takes place in a former colony, and throughout the story, the reader sees the conflict between traditional cultures and beliefs and those imported by the colonizing power.
Men from the city in khaki uniforms built the pipeline, but they are framed as foreign to the village, holding “the attention of the village people” with “[t]heir spectacle” (77). While the men in question were presumably Nigerian, khaki uniforms were a staple of the British in their colonies, and the use of this fabric was common in the 19th and 20th centuries, even after nations gained their independence.
The clash between traditional values and those of the city people and colonizers is voiced in the descriptions of Jackson. The only character with a non-African name, Jackson is wearing a Boy Scout scarf. But rather than embody the helpfulness often associated with the Boy Scouts, a Western organization, he concentrates on trouble and gossip. His report rouses the suspicions and greed of the other villagers. In this way, his actions contribute to the number of people who die in the explosion.
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